Following the adoption of a beautiful Romanian child, and during the adoption of her second Romanian child, Lori Scott, Little Miracles Executive Director had a God impressed vision of continuing to helping the orphaned and abandoned children of Romania. Several years ago, Little Miracles International, Inc. a non-profit organization was formed, and the ideas began to be put into motion. This dream presented itself finally in the form of an opportunity even bigger than LMI ever imagined possible. Little Miracles International would assist in opening an emergency child care center in Romania. Lori and Little Miracles International would play a vital role in the project and fund raising. Now truly a big difference would be made in the lives of the precious children in Romania. Now children could be helped many at a time, and permanent solutions could be found for their lives!

In a quaint village in Romania sat an abandoned orphanage building. The work done previously by several Romanian humanitarian foundations had been long ago deserted, due to the failing economy. Those plans to turn the building into an orphan all-girl school were never realized by the foundations nor the county that was so hoping to see their plans materialize.

In a hospital in the same county lived infants
and toddlers, abandoned and relinquished
due to the deteriorating economical situation of many families. Prior to our center opening the children born in this county that had orphan status, spent their entire first three years in the hospital setting. While the hospital kept the children clean and healthy, and did the absolute best job they could to raise these beautiful children, the stimulation was minimal for the needs of a normal child, and when our staff toured the facility, there were signs of developmental delays in the children due to lack of stimulation and the children were constantly lying in their cribs, reaching out for a human touch. Something more had to be done to help the children! The proposal was made that we take on the project of remodeling and modernizing the building, and preparing it for an emergency child care receiving center to assist the hospital with their overwhelming number of children. Within a few months, after many planning meetings and signed paperwork, the project was underway! The House of Angels will be the temporary home to children 0-3 years of age until a permanent solution can be found for them.

The photos to the right and left show the incredible job the construction company did with their remodeling! Such tremendous work was done and it was exciting to see the gutted building come to life and transform into a haven! The building had been through several stages of construction prior to our posession and ther remodeling looked to be an insurmountable job! The construction company that was hired did an fantastic job with the renovation! No one could even believe it was the same building on the inside! The outside still needs some new paint and repair, and there are some plans once funding can be obtained to do the renovate the second floor of the building as it is identical to the first floor, only in much worse shape.

Following an intensive fund raising campaign for renovation and remodeling, Lori Scott traveled to Romania, April 11, 2002 for the grand opening of the House of Angels. Prior to the opening, LMI was scurrying around to try to find last minute items for the children such as bonnets and pacifiers and packing suitcases full of humanitarian aid. Finally the day came for the arrival of the first baby, shown in the photo below. This was an extremely emotional moment, the moment we had waited for what seemed an eternity! The opening marked yet another miracle and dream realized for Little Miracles International. The opening was attended by press, radio, and television media. Also in attendendance were city and county officials and officials from the child protection office and Carabella Romanian humanitarian foundation. The center was given blessing by the local orthodox priest followed by a ribbon cutting ceremony and the breaking of bread with salt in the Romanian tradition. The group of about 60 people then attended the press conference which was held in the playroom of the center. Speeches in the Romanian style were given by all officials including Lori. There was a brief question and answer session before the reception, then the invited guests mingled and toured the center. To view part of the blessing ceremony, click the photo of the priest.

Our center located in a small village outside of beautiful and historical Targoviste, Romania will serve as the only temporary emergency placement center in the County for children ages 0-3. The community has outstretched their hands to our center and provided much volunteer work to get the project done. Many leaders in the community are showing their pride in our accomplishments and lending a hand when it is needed. The food, culture and history of this area is ancient, rich and warm. We are privileged to be able to call it home to our House of Angels.

The goals of our center will be to provide Western-type child care, in smaller individualized apartment settings with a "family" type atmosphere, as opposed to the dormitory style orphanages. The House of Angels, with high caretaker to child ratio will be providing a temporary placement for children until permanent solutions can be found for them in a true family setting, whether that be foster care, family reunification or adoption. Some of our original children living in the House of Angels have already been placed into foster care. This center will also allow for the biological mother to move in to the center with one child as an emergency shelter. At this most important time in child protection law reform in Romania, our center will hopefully serve as a model and encouragement to others.

The renovation of the building was fully funded at $15,000.00. A huge thanks to all of our supporters and our wonderful sponsors and donors for all of their help in our project. Our first team of humanitarian workers have already traveled to the House of Angels and we will be planning other future trips.

At this time it is going to take about $2500.00 to run the center per month. This includes staff of 15 care givers, a full time nurse, a physician, a nutritionist, an administrator and a janitor. The children are receiving the best care they can get in Romania and we are proud of our accomplishments. The nutritionist will individualize eating plans for each child and prepare the proper balanced meals each day. The physician will spend several hours at the center each day examining the children, and the caretakers will be responsible for the ongoing care, nurturing and stimulation of the children.

As you can imagine, the renovation of the orphanage along with the start up costs for the center and the monthly utilities and running of the center have been enormous.

We are in need of many love offerings, gifts from the heart for our center. We hope that the photos found below will assure you of our intention and use of your donations. In March 2002, the building was bare and the situation seemed impossible, but we do know miracles do happen! By mid April 2002 the sounds of laughter have filled the halls! The Angels are...the children...the caretakers and staff, the administrators and planners and everyone else who made this dream a reality! Our big thanks to God for making His plan a reality, God is so good!!!! A final thanks to our two friends and special Angels...Simona and Lisa, for without them, we would have nothing.

Note: The none of these children are available for adoption at this time.

We wish through our photos to inspire you to help us do more for the children!  We are in desperate need of sponsors for the children in the center and foster care, as a monthly commitment to helping our HOA center.

First Baby Arrives	Diapers Arrive	Baby Room
Sorting Blankets	Lori Meets Nicholae	Caretakers
Apartment Playroom	Laundry Room	Clean Up
Little Mihai	Main Hallway to Rooms	Bread and Salt
Ironing flag for Opening	Bathing Tables	Baby Tubs
Always Paperwork!	Romanian Polenta	Little Angel
Kitchen Sink	Modern Plumbing

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